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So we, officially, have been to Colca Canyon. On Thursday morning we woke up nice and early (2.30am) to take a bus out to Colca Canyon - a canyon near Arequipa that is more than a kilometer deep. The bus ride out was FREEZING! We didn´t realise at the time but we were going over a peak of 4910m above sea level without any air con in the pre-dawn hours. Man that was a cold trip.
The transport company we were with stopped for a break at Chivay, a small town at the entrance to the national park area. We all had to buy tickets into the national park (about $30 each) and then had a quick breaky before heading back to the van to head onto the lookout for condors.
We arrived at the lookout about 7am and were lucky enough to see three or four condors doing their thing, riding the air currents around a point. It´s spectacularly beautiful anyway -being over a kilometer deep and some of the peaks are over 5kms tall, it´s an amazing place!
As we got in the van again, we both weren´t feeling well but put it down to such an early start and just generally being out of whack - we knew that we were ascending to about 3500meters so altitude sickness could be a problem, so perhaps that´s all it was and it would go away.
WRONG
We checked into our hostel -a really nice place called Pacahmama in Cabanaconde where all the hikes go in and out of the canyon. We were planning on doing a day hike the following day and going to look at some lookouts in the afternoon.
We stumbled down to the main plaza and Karl had an improvised soccer game with a local kid using a coke bottle top as the ball. They had fun, but Jane was feeling worse and wanted to go back to the hostel.
But Jane just kept feeling worse and worse. The hostel were great and gave her anti-nausea tea (wild herbs and whatnot) but it didn´t really help. We wont go into all the grusome details, but she actually, stayed in bed for about 24hours.
Saturday morning she was feeling a bit better but by lunchtime it was back with avengance -stabbing back spasms that had her knocked flat and unable to be nice to anyone around her. Thats when Karl (the lovely man he is) went and found her a hot water bottle and a doctor.
When the doctor arrived, she came with her daughter (about 10 months old) and her neice (about 8 years). They all came traipsing into our messy hostel room with the Belgian lady who owns the hostel (to translate). Turns out its not altitude sickness but a nasty gastro bug. So the doctor decided what i needed was an injection to relax my back, which she hadn´t brought with her (actually all she had brought was a plastic bag with some pills and scissors and gloves). While the neice went down to the pharmacy, she sat on my bed and proceeded to feed her bub. I actually have no problem with this, i was more concerned about giving the baby the gastro, but apparently that can´t happen. It is kind of a surreal experience to see your doctors boob on your sick bed!
So she ended up giving me an injection to calm my back (yay! means sleep was a possibility) and some pills to kill off the bug. This morning, i woke a world better, but sadly it seems like Karl has succumbed. Which is HORRIBLE since we´re on a day of 16hours of buses!
He´s not fareing too badly at the moment, and we will see how he goes! He´s had some pills and seems to be getting a bit better - so hold your breath for him! Only 10 hours more on the bus to go!
The bus back to Arequipa was good - it was a tourist bus too (meaning that we got to stop and take photos at spectacular views and hundreds of llamas and at the 4910m point to see the surrounds). And now we have 2 hours till we get to go on the next bus to Cusco!
- comments
Maria Goodwin One of the things travellers fear...getting sick! You poor things hope that you both are feeling a lot better soon. Wonderful story about the doctor visit! :-) Love to you both xxxxx
Val Such is the joy of Intrepid travellers experiences! Sickness horrible for you both & pleased Jane's better. Hope Karl is on the mend. Dr's consultation exceeded expectations ..lol Fabulous story of Colca Canyon. Look forward to next update with bated breath. :)
Bruce Goodwin Sorry to hear you are unwell but always remember, anything that doesn't kill you, makes you a better person. Love to you both.